Living Heritage and Sustainable Development

Cristina Amescua Chávez

Professor and Chairholder, UNESCO Chair for Research on Intangible Cultural Heritage and Cultural Diversity

National Autonomous University of Mexico

Ms. Cristina Amescua Chávez is a researcher at the Regional Center for Multidisciplinary Research (UNAM) and Chairholder of the UNESCO Chair on Research on Intangible Cultural Heritage and Cultural Diversity. She holds a PhD in anthropology from National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Two of her dissertations were awarded prizes and in 2014 Cristina won the National University Distinguished Recognition for Young Academics in the area of research in the social sciences. Since 2001, at the National University of Mexico, she has participated actively in inaugurating and promoting the field of study on intangible cultural heritage.

She has collaborated and coordinated many research projects and published 7 books as editor or co-editor, 27 chapters in books and two articles in journals. Since 2007 she has cooperated with UNESCO on several initiatives regarding intangible cultural heritage.

Ahmed Skounti

Anthropologist

National Institute of Archaeology and Heritage Sciences of Morocco

Mr. Ahmed Skounti has been working for more than two decades as a heritage professional and as a Professor of anthropology within the Moroccan Ministry of Culture. He holds a Ph.D. from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Paris, France. He was the Focal Point of World Heritage in Morocco (2000-2014). He contributed to the drafting of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and is a facilitator of the UNESCO Global Network of Facilitators to support capacity building for the implementation of the Convention. He was member of the Evaluation Body of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2015-2017) and Chair of this Body in 2015 and 2017. He is a member of the Scientific Board of the International Journal of Heritage Studies. In 2019, he received the Jeonju International Award for the safeguarding and promotion of intangible cultural heritage.

Anna Wai Yu Yau

Conservationist and Project Manager, Centre for Civil Society and Governance

The University of Hong Kong

Ms Yau has been working for over a decade in heritage revitalisation, management and education. She is an accredited heritage conservationist (ICOMOS, HKICON) and Project Management Professional (PMI). Her cultural heritage management experience includes built heritage conservation, safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage, heritage entrepreneurship; as well as teaching and training in the Asia Pacific region. She is currently a project manager for HSBC Rural Sustainability Programme at HKU – awardee of the inaugural Special Recognition for Sustainable Development award of 2020 UNESCO Asia Pacific Heritage Conservation Award. The project aims to develop a socio-economic model for sustainable development of rural landscape heritage. In 2021, she was selected as one of the jury members of the UNESCO Asia Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation.

Deirdre Prins-Solani

Researcher and Facilitator

UNESCO Global Network of Facilitators to support capacity building for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage

Ms. Deirdre is a specialist in education, culture and heritage. Her work experience over the past three decades has been in both the areas of tangible and intangible cultural heritage. Her on-going research explores the ways in which living heritage, memory and interior worlds can inform transformative and inclusive urban planning. She is a facilitator of the UNESCO Global Network of Facilitators to support capacity building for the implementation of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. In this capacity she has conducted training across Africa, Caribbean and Asia Pacific regions in intangible cultural heritage, sustainable development and policy design. She has written and published on memory, living heritage and sustainable development. She is co-creator of the first International Council of Museums that has developed a massive open online course on building meaningful and inclusive museums.

Harriet Deacon

Honorary Research Fellow

University of South Africa

Ms. Harriet Deacon is an independent researcher with a PhD in History and a MSc in Management of Intellectual Property, working in the fields of cultural heritage, intellectual property law, and cultural and economic aspects of sustainable development. She is affiliated to the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and Coventry University’s Centre for Dance Research (UK). Since 2010, she has been employed as a consultant facilitator and materials developer on the UNESCO capacity-building programme for the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. Based on this, and research in countries like South Africa, Kenya, and India, she has published widely on intangible heritage.

Lucas dos Santos Roque

Anthropologist and Facilitator

UNESCO Global Network of Facilitators to support capacity building for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage

Mr. Lucas dos Santos Roque is an anthropologist with over 20 years of experience in themes of culture and environment. He holds a master’s degree in intangible heritage and displaced communities and is a member of the Scientific Committee of UNESCO Network for Earth. As a facilitator of the UNESCO Global Network of Facilitators to support capacity building for the implementation of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, he has worked all over the world promoting intangible heritage. He has vast experience as a project coordinator for institutions as the Expressão Socioambiental and for the Regional Center for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Latin America - CRESPIAL, where he acted as Capacity-Building Coordinator during 2017 and 2018.

Marc Jacobs

Professor and Chairholder, UNESCO Chair on Critical Heritage Studies and the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage

University of Antwerp and Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Mr. Marc Jacobs is a Professor of Heritage Studies at the University of Antwerp and holder of the UNESCO Chair on Critical Heritage Studies and the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage at Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Previously he was director of Flemish Interface for Cultural Heritage (FARO). As a member of the Belgian delegation, he was part of the drafting group of the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, of its General Assembly (2006-2021) and Intergovernmental Committee (2006-2008; 2012-2016). He cherishes article 15 and 18, and the Operational Directives 170 and 171 in the Basic Texts of the 2003 Convention.

Martín Andrade Pérez

Researcher

Erigaie Foundation

Mr. Martín Andrade Pérez is a researcher at the Erigaie Foundation, a Colombian NGO and research center focused on cultural heritage. He has worked on ICH-related projects for more than 15 years, conducting several community-based projects, including safeguarding plans, nomination files, and inventories. He has been advisor of the Heritage Section of the Ministry of Culture of Colombia to develop laws and policies for the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage. He teaches master courses on cultural heritage at the Pedagogical and Technological University of Colombia and has been an adjunct professor at the Javeriana University and the Externado University in Colombia. Between 2018 and 2021, he represented the Erigaie Foundation at the Evaluation Body of the 2003 Convention.

Neel Kamal Chapagain

Associate Professor and Director, Centre for Heritage Management

Ahmedabad University

Mr. Neel Kamal Chapagain is an architect and heritage professional from Nepal, currently an Associate Professor and the Director of Centre for Heritage Management, Ahmedabad University in India. He was the lead faculty in conceptualising the Masters degree programme in heritage management at Ahmedabad University. In recent years, he has been part of UNESCO Bangkok’s initiative to draft competence framework for cultural heritage management and relating the competences to academic learning outcomes at Masters level. He serves as a board member in two higher education networks related to heritage education in the Asia Pacific region, as well as the Association of Critical Heritage Studies.

Nigel Encalada

Director, Institute for Social and Cultural Research

National Institute of Culture and History, Belize

Mr. Nigel Encalada is currently the Director of Belize’s Institute for Social and Cultural Research (ISCR) of the National Institute of Culture and History (NICH). Within the legal framework and mandate of this institution, he oversees the implementation of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Belize. Since 2014, he is a facilitator of the UNESCO Global Network of Facilitators to support capacity building for the implementation of the Convention and has animated workshops in the Caribbean sub-region. He is also the co-author of Belize’s first National Culture Policy, which was launched in 2016. In December 2021 he was elected to the Evaluation Body of the 2003 Convention.

Rahul Goswami

Facilitator

UNESCO Global Network of Facilitators to support capacity building for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage

Mr. Rahul Goswami is a facilitator of the UNESCO Global Network of Facilitators to support capacity building for the implementation of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. He is a former adviser to the Centre for Environment Education Himalaya, Ministry of Environment, and to the National Agriculture Innovation Project, Ministry of Agriculture, in India. He has studied and documented traditional systems of knowledge for 25 years with a focus on rural development, environment and climate change.

Sangmee Bak

Professor of Anthropology

Hankuk University of Foreign Studies

Ms. Sangmee Bak is a professor of cultural anthropology at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, Korea. She received her PhD in anthropology from Harvard University in 1994. Dr. Bak has been a member of the Cultural Heritage Committee of Korea since 2013. Between 2018 and 2021, she was a member of the Evaluation Body of the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and was elected as the Chair of the Body in 2019. She is a facilitator of the UNESCO Global Network of Facilitators to support capacity building for the implementation of the Convention, and worked for capacity-building workshops in China, Fiji, and Singapore.

Tiago de Oliveira Pinto

Professor and Chairholder, UNESCO Chair on Transcultural Music Studies and Head of Musicology Department

University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar

Mr. Tiago de Oliveira Pinto is UNESCO Chairholder on Transcultural Music Studies and Head of the Department of Musicology at the University of Music Franz Liszt, Weimar, and Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany. He is a former Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, and Director of the Brazilian Cultural Institute in Germany. Currently he is in charge of international cultural research projects on intangible cultural heritage in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, South Africa among other countries, in close cooperation with the German Foreign Office and with other international institutions.